Simple chemistry questions - creating particle beams

[skyshrimp]

Simple chemistry questions -- creating particle beams...

I'm new to chemistry and trying to understand this page http://www.chemguide.co.uk/atoms/properties/. I'm about to ask some very silly questions :uhh:

It shows two examples of what will happen if a beam of protons, neutrons and electrons are passed between two electrically charged plates.

1. If the particles have the same energy.
2. If the particles have the same speeds.

My first question is, how can you create a beam of these particles in the first place? I thought only photons and radiation were beams. Was it just hypothetical?

 

[Borek]

I am not sure about neutrons, but creating a beam of electrons is rather trivial (every old style TV/monitor used a beam of electrons to create the picture). Similarly it is not difficult to create a stream of protons (take some hydrogen, ionize it, accelerate what you got - perhaps not something to try on the kitchen table, but a routine thing to do in many labs).

 

[SteamKing]

Neutrons can be created by a, ahem, neutron generator, and used for various research purposes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutron_generator

 

[Borek]

I was sure methods exist, I just wasn't aware of the details

 

[Simon Bridge]

You question contained its answer...

I thought only photons and radiation were beams.

I think the difficulty here was not realizing that electrons etc in beams are radiation.
Radiation can be composed of any kind of particle...